Matchmaker
by authorstune2
Summary: Sofia is back in Seattle and isn't as settled as Callie and Arizona hoped. Can she really be the key that prompts a family reunion or has too much time passed?
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** _Just something fun to play with between parts of Dark Notes. This storyline will never happen, hence why it's fun to write, but if you don't like Arizona and Callie reunifying, then skip this one. :-)_

 **Part 1**

"Sofia honey, what do you want to do? It's the weekend and we have two whole days to fill," Arizona said, flopping onto Sofia's bed and shuffling to fall between Sofia and the wall.

Shrugging, Sofia cuddled a small stuffed bear against her chest. "Can I call Mama today?"

Arizona resisted the urge to sigh, she had expected Sofia to adjust a little easier to the move than she had. They hadn't forced Sofia to move and she had been given a lot of control over small things related to the relocation - the colour of her bedroom walls, furniture and new clothing. Small things aimed at giving her an extra sense of security.

"Of course you can, you can call Mama any time, you know that."

"Well, can I call her now?"

Arizona glanced at her watch and nodded. Sofia quickly shifted out of the covers and opened her bedside drawer to access her phone. Callie and Arizona had agreed before she moved, that Callie would buy her a phone and contract just to use for calls between the two of them. Arizona had called in a favour with Alex though, helplessly handing him the phone and requested it to be 'child proofed'. No data, no wifi, and a total of five permitted phone numbers. _No fun_ , Alex had confirmed when he handed the phone back to Arizona after five minutes of adjusting settings.

Sofia sat back on the side of the bed, a smile wide on her face when Callie answered. "Morning Mama," she said, tucking a leg up. "Hmmm, yeah. I don't know, Mom's home for the weekend." She looked to Arizona and asked, "Right Mom?" Arizona nodded. "Yeah," Sofia said back into the phone. "No work."

Arizona listened intently to Sofia's side of the conversation, almost able to picture the phrasing and tone that Callie would be speaking by the answers Sofia gave. "Last week, remember? We painted it together. Sort of." Sofia looked around at her bedroom walls as she spoke. "Mom dropped some paint but not too much. You should have been here to help us." Arizona's stomach churned at the statement, it was hard not to take the small comments as a criticism. It was weird to have Sofia back full time after so much time had passed, she felt many of her old maternal insecurities force their way back into her consciousness. She hadn't been prepared for that. "No way," Sofia said and Arizona realised she had missed a few conversation pieces. "I don't miss New York at all, just you, Mama." Sofia looked down and picked at the duvet cover with her fingertips, knotted unbrushed hair falling over her face. She looked so much like Callie. "I know that," she said, frowning, "I didn't say I wanted to come back."

Sofia's temper escalated, zero to one hundred, much like both Arizona and Callie, really, and she kicked her foot against the ground. "How about I take the phone, hey? You go and get ready for breakfast," Arizona said, sitting up and holding her hand out for the phone.

"Fine, see you Mama, have a great weekend," Sofia added sarcastically and she was suddenly a little girl rushing towards adolescence, full of insolence.

"Morning Callie," Arizona said, watching Sofia walk out of her room and kick a small lego set on her way. It crumbled apart.

"Hi, she's a delight this morning," Callie responded.

"She misses you, that's all. If it helps, I asked her what she wanted to do today and she didn't even answer me. Just wanted to call you."

"And all she wanted to do when she was here was phone you, I guess we can't win."

"It's hard for her I suppose, it's a long way between Seattle and New York. She can't just go between our houses or anything, like a lot of kids."

"It's exhausting, makes me feel like a terrible parent."

"Me too, I didn't think this was meant to come until she was a teenager. Any suggestions?" Arizona asked, almost as an afterthought. She had been trying to do it all on her own, pretend that Sofia was adjusting well and there were no issues. Except there was, every day almost. A tantrum here, a sarcastic comment there; tears and anger.

"Not really," Callie responded, and Arizona thought she sounded a little defeated. "Distraction worked okay here, sometimes."

Arizona hesitated and drew in a deep breath. "She's been…difficult. Sometimes," Arizona's said, voice soft, intent uncertain.

Callie sighed heavily from the other end of the phone. "Tantrums; crying. Kicking has been my favourite of late."

Arizona almost burst into tears with relief and she knew her voice sounded strained with the effort to contain her emotion when she spoke. "She thew a glass at the wall on Thursday."

"Sorry Arizona, I thought she would be okay when she moved back. It was the only thing she ever said that was wrong; I would have given you more of a heads up if I thought it would continue."

"It's so random, I can't figure out why or when she loses it. It seems like she's fine and then nothing kind of happens but she completely changes all of a sudden."

"Yup, sounds familiar. I honestly thought she would be okay, she yelled most days that she wanted us to go home," Callie murmured, and Arizona could hear a coffee machine buzz to life through the phone. "I'm pre-coffee," she added, as if in tune to Arizona's thoughts.

"I'm not sure what we should do. Should I organise for her to see someone? A child therapist?" Arizona asked and the almost immediately she was flooded with self doubts. She worried all the time that something would happen to Sofia whether it be medical or she screwed something up for her. All her old fears from well before Sofia was even a reality.

"Let's just give her a bit longer and see how she goes. Try and talk to her and maybe you can get more out of her than I could."

"Yeah, I can do that," Arizona said softly. "I don't really want her in _the system…_ unless she has to be. It would be good if we could figure it out. Help her."

"It's our job, right."

"Yeah," Arizona concurred with heavy exhalation, "it's our job. Thanks, I should let you, you know, drink your coffee. And go see if Sofia has destroyed the kitchen or something."

"That's alright, it's fine, I'm not working this weekend. Ummm, you can call any time, if she's being…or if you need some help with her."

"You never called; you managed everything."

Callie's laugh reverberated through the phone. "Don't mistake my stubbornness for management, Arizona. You know better than that. Just because I didn't ask you for help doesn't mean that I shouldn't have. I am sorry that I didn't prepare you properly, I really can't believe it's continued. But I should have told you."

Arizona smiled. "It's all good, we'll see how it goes. I'll be in touch and, Sofia will, of course."

"Talk to you then."

Arizona terminated the call and placed Sofia's phone on the charger before heading into the living area. She found Sofia sitting at the high bench in the kitchen, a bowl of cereal in front of her. "You didn't want pancakes or something, Sof?"

"Nah, this is good. I don't mind."

"Mama makes the best pancakes, right?" Arizona said, placing a mug under the automated coffee machine and pressing the espresso button. "When you were little you wouldn't even eat mine."

"They're still better."

Arizona laughed. "I actually appreciate your honesty. Wonder where you got that from?"

"I don't know," Sofia said, shrugging. She was oblivious to Arizona's sarcasm and humour. "You talked to Mama?"

"Yup, just chatted about the weather and what's exciting in New York and oh, that's right, our favourite daughter," Arizona teased, taking her coffee cup from under the machine when the shot was finished.

"Is she even working today?"

"Not this weekend, maybe she's making her own pancakes," Arizona said, trying to lift Sofia's mood rather than chastise her, yet again, for her rude tone.

"Well then she could have at least come and visited us," Sofia mumbled, eyes fixed on her cereal bowl, pushing the last remaining soggy wheat strips around with her spoon.

"Sofa," Arizona said, sliding onto a stool next to her. "You know how far New York is, Mama can't just hop on a plane every weekend she has off just like I couldn't and you couldn't."

"You don't like flying but Mama does, she doesn't care."

"I know that Sof, but it's still a long way. Do you want me to organise for you to go and spend some time back with Mama, maybe you could have a Friday off school and go for two nights?"

"No!" Sofia answered, and pushed her plate away. Her face crumbled and she folded her head into her arms.

Arizona had no idea, she watched her cry and hiccup, her little legs swinging under the stool. "Come on Sofia, come here and sit with me for a minute." She tugged at her arms until Sofia willingly slid off the chair and stood in front of Arizona, tears still trailing down her cheeks. "You're not too big for a cuddle," she said softly, pulling Sofia up to sit on her lap.

"I am too," Sofia protested lightly, sniffling as she curled into Arizona's chest. "I don't want to go back to New York, I want to stay here."

"Okay, okay, of course you are staying here. I just thought since you keep saying you want to see Mama that you might like to visit."

"Well I don't."

"Mmmm, so why don't you tell me what all this is about then huh; you got pretty angry at Mama this morning. And, you get pretty angry and sad at me sometimes too."

"No I don't."

"Sofia."

"I don't know why."

Arizona stifled a sigh, dipping her face to kiss Sofia's head and hugged her tighter. "Well, tell me what you were angry at Mama about."

"Nothin'."

"It doesn't sound like nothing."

"I just wanted her to come visit but you and her only want me to go there. Just like you could hardly ever come to New York."

"Not fair, huh? That you have to do all the flying?"

"I don't care about flying."

"Well honey, Mama can't just jump on a plane all the time. She has work and friends and needs time to have fun and meet people." Sofia looked up at her, completely confused. "Like how Mama and Penny used to live together; Mama might like someone else very much." Arizona stumbled over her words, she knew what she was saying in her head but translating it to an age appropriate understanding was harder than she thought.

Sofia shook her head. "That's dumb," she said and Arizona almost laughed. "No, it's dumb because she says she doesn't want a new girlfriend, and I heard her say that she can't anyway because of you. So she should just come here and see _us_."

Arizona was briefly grateful that she wasn't sipping her coffee or it would have sprayed all over Sofia. "I think you might have misunderstood or misheard, Sof."

"Mama is _sad_ ," Sofia said, "whenever she talks about you. Not all the time, but when we talk about you. And you said that you missed her too, so why can't you just see each other so we don't all miss each other."

"Oh it's not that simple, Sofia. Your Mama and I are divorced, do you remember what we explained to you about that."

Sofia wriggled herself out of Arizona's grasp and stood in front of Arizona with her hands on her hips. Her face deadpanned, serious. "Everyone knows what divorce is, how old do you think I am? I also know what Mama said and I know that she cries when she talks about you. I think adults are stupid and do stupid things. You are stupid!"

"Alright, that's enough. That is not a word we use in this house."

"Stupid!"

"Sofia."

"I'm going to my room, you're just going to send me there anyway. You are stupid."

Arizona watched her daughter stomp across the kitchen and towards her bedroom, a few seconds later and the door loudly slammed. She winced at the bang.

Swallowing the last of her coffee as she swiped through her phone to find Callie's name, Arizona pressed at the screen. Holding her phone to her ear with her shoulder, Arizona waited for the familiar click of the line being picked up. "So," she said without pleasantries, "our daughter is trying to get us back together."

 **XXX**

"She's what?" Callie said and Arizona could hear the screech in her voice.

"Yup. Well, I think so."

"Crap."

"Yup."

"Ummmm."

"I was going to suggest that we should talk to her," Arizona said.

"Great idea. I just don't quite…I mean, how did she, or rather, what did she say?" Callie's words were disjointed and half sentences murmured, she sounded nervous to Arizona or panicked almost.

"Oh, it came up because she was telling me about being angry at you for not visiting this weekend and that I didn't visit often when she was in New York. And I offered to talk to you to organise a trip for her back home but she didn't want that. And I just mentioned that you would maybe sometimes be out with friends or that you might want to meet someone new."

"You were talking to our daughter about me dating?" Callie said, though she laughed at the same time.

"No, no no. Not like that," Arizona muttered, rushing to explain. "It sounds weird but it wasn't, it was in context. I swear. But anyway, our little smart one, thinks she has overheard stuff and has it in her head that she has the solution. At least I think that's where she's at. And she is all you with the stubborness, I couldn't convince her otherwise and then she called us all stupid and stomped off to her room."

"We are stupid."

"Hey, speak for yourself," Arizona said, laughing. "We're only stupid because our elementary aged daughter is doing our head in."

"What exactly did she say, Arizona?"

"Oh, she said that adults are stupid and do stupid things and that you and I are,"

"No," Callie said, interrupting. "Not what she said about being stupid. Have you had coffee yet?"

"Yes," Arizona confirmed sheepishly, "Sorry. Ummm, what did she say about what?"

"About getting us back together."

"Ohhhh, yes that. Ummm, she thinks that she heard you say that you couldn't date anyone new because of me. Or something to that effect. And that you cry sometimes." Arizona left out the part where Sofia said that it was when Callie was talking about her. Something made her hold that back, though she wasn't sure why. There was silence on the other end of the phone and Arizona rushed to fill it. "And when she first came home to my place, she said that she missed you and I said that I did too. So she's added that in," Arizona wasn't sure why she added that, but she did and her head was suddenly reeling and her pulse was racing.

"She's too smart sometimes."

"We need to talk to her though don't we? I mean, go over it all again like we did when we separated."

Callie's voice was soft and low through the phone. "Yeah sure. It that's what you want."

"Well, I don't think it'll work on my own."

There was no response from Callie and Arizona actually checked the phone to make sure their call hadn't been disconnected.

"Is that good? Or do you have another idea?" Arizona prompted.

There was another awkward silence until Callie spoke again, and her voice sounded far away almost, hollow. "The thing is," Callie said and hesitated briefly. "That Sofia heard right. The last six months, I've just…I don't know…"

"I don't understand really. Sofia heard right?"

"I cry sometimes, because I miss our life together. That's all. She's right, I'm not moving on or dating anyone new. I don't want to right now. I should have hid it more from her, I didn't know that she saw me or understood why."

"Callie."

"I know that you don't feel the same way, so we should just figure out what to do and."

"How do you know I don't?" Arizona asked, interrupting.

"What?"

"How do you know if I don't even know that? I had no idea you even felt this way or anything, and now you're jumping to say that I don't feel the same.'

Again, silence settled between them.

"Callie," Arizona said finally, "you should come here for a few days. So we can talk to Sofia and…talk. We need to talk."

"I don't know if I want to."

"Ummmm…."

"Did I sound ten?"

Arizona smiled. "Yes, yes you did."

"Okay. Okay. I'll come."

"I won't have the answers when you get here, I just want you to know that."

"Sure."

"But I want you to come," Arizona said softly and it was the best she could do. So many months and years spent minimising any regret and hope; they just surfaced too often and she had to lock them away. Suddenly, they were back and full of emotion and she had no idea what to do with that. Callie was meant to be her one great love that got away; that she screwed up, that they screwed up. A second chance, after so long?

She needed wine and April. And quickly, before Callie arrived.

 **XXX**

"So let me get this straight," April murmured, wiping a wine drop on the table with her thumb. "Callie, said that she misses you. And now she's coming here to talk and…well, that's what I got from the last hour."

"Thank you," Arizona responded, rolling her eyes. "You're meant to let me rant, so I can figure out what's happening - that's your job. But yes, that is an accurate summary."

"Oh rant away, I'm enjoying the drama. It's like Act 23 with you two. I particularly like Sofia's role in this one, how did that kid become a teenager? Impressive."

"i know, it's enough to send me nuts. She's way too knowledgable now but we're going to have to talk to her. I mean, Callie coming here for a few days is not what she wants, she wants us back together."

"Do you?"

"Oh, that's harsh. That's not something I even know how to answer."

April raised her eyebrows. "Mmmm."

"I can't. You lived the final separation alongside me, it was awful. Who in their right mind would open themselves up to that kind of possibility again?"

"People who have history; people who have unfinished business. Any relationship or possibility of a relationship is opening yourself up to possible endings. I mean, isn't that what love is all about? You do it, even though you know it could end?"

"Could…would…that's the issue though. If we knew it _would_ end in revoltingness, would we ever start?"

April shrugged. "Maybe, I mean, you got Sofia out of that mess. Imagine having avoided that just because you knew it would end."

"Oh, you're wise."

"I am," April said, laughing.

"What if I can't love her again?" Arizona half asked, half pondered to herself. And April gave her the response she deserved, in that moment, no one knew the answer. "Guess that's the question, huh?"

"Maybe," April said softly, "but Arizona, ask the other way around. What if you could?"

Arizona physically shuddered and she closed her eyes, only reopening them when she felt April's hand wrap around her forearm. "I think it's too hard," she whispered.

"Then that's okay too."

Arizona nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Thanks."

"Can I give you some advice?" April asked.

"Please."

"I like answers…quickly. It's a major character flaw. I'm told that there's people out there that take their time to make decisions; they do pros and cons lists, test out hypotheses and even wait for months, years to make final calls. Not us, obviously; but people. I want to try and learn from those people, maybe you could to."

"There you go, wise again."

"I'm making a habit of it."

Arizona laughed, pushing herself up from her chair. "Time for another bottle," she said but hesitated after a few steps. She turned and stepped back, wrapping her arms around April; she pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Thanks for keeping me sane." As quickly as she had hesitated, she was at the bar, ordering another bottle of wine. She was breathing a little easier.

 **TBC.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: Thank you for the alerts and reviews. So glad there's still some fans of this pair around. On with the part...**_

 _ **Part 2**_

It was mid flight before the doubts really settled into the pitt of Callie's stomach; that unrelenting nausea that just lingered in the background. She ate a small granola bar that seemed to stick in her throat and needed washing down with a small can of diet soda. Those cans that are all of three gulps and seemed almost a waste of time. Shifting in her window seat, she pulled her arm in closer to her body, trying to avoid the overweight gentleman that was sprawled over the arm wrest. She sighed; Arizona would have booked business class but she was always more frugal in comparison. With some things anyway; not wine, wine she used to order by the carton.

They used to argue about money occasionally, little bickers and spats over vacations and purchases like cars and phones. Arizona wanted luxury holidays and Callie wanted every new iPhone release. It usually ended with wide smiles and some kind of compromise; using their own money rather than the shared account to make up the difference. In reality, they didn't argue over the small things, it was always big issues that was their undoing.

Callie knew that her feelings for Arizona had changed over the previous six months, maybe longer if she was honest. She felt like she had gone from being completely infatuated to deeply in love to exhausted and confused and hurt. She had never hated Arizona, but she had despised her for a long time. Callie had thought about that a lot lately, as she had started to think about her more and more. The thoughts snuck in, unexpectedly and she didn't resist them at first. They were just general platonic queries about what Arizona would be doing on a particular night when she didn't respond to a text message or how she was dressed for the yearly hospital fundraiser.

Then the thoughts had become more intrusive as the months passed and small triggers would compel her to think more deeply, more critically. Like the night of what would have been their wedding anniversary, when Arizona had left a voicemail message saying that she wasn't sure they should mark the occasion but she wanted to thank Callie for spending most of her 30s with her and for bringing Sofia into their lives. She had laughed at the end of the short message, saying it felt odd to toast their divorce. Callie had felt her pulse race and when she closed her phone, she had a smile on her face.

Though her feelings for Arizona had continued to quell beneath the surface, she wondered suddenly, if it would be different in person. If all the hurt they had each caused would come rushing back and the history they shared would change Callie's mind. That was the panic; if they would always be a better idea than they were in reality.

She was about to find out; the flight was landing and there was a little girl and her blond haired, blue eyed mum waiting at the gate. Taxiing and disembarking seems to take forever and Callie jostled in her seat. She fixed the cross body strap of her satchel at least five times and counted the rows as people slowly left the plane. She grabbed her cabin luggage, a small overnight bag from above her seat and she was walking down the aisle.

She perused the waiting area inside the gate but it was Sofia's voice she heard first, piercing as it cut through the air. "Mama!"

"Mija," Callie said with a heavy exhalation. "I've missed you," she said, wrapping her arms around Sofia as she bowled into her abdomen.

"Welcome back to Seattle," Arizona said as she approached from a few steps behind Sofia, leaning forward and kissing Callie on the cheek. She stepped back and smiled, seeming far too relaxed in comparison to the anxiety Callie felt in that moment.

"Hi," she replied and swallowed heavily. She shook her head at herself, silently chastising. "How has my favourite girl been?" she asked, directing her attention to Sofia. Where she was much more comfortable for the moment rather than the rush of emotion she felt at Arizona's familiar scent.

Sofia shrugged, releasing Callie and standing between her and Arizona. "Okay," she said and looked up at Arizona as if asking if her behaviour had been disclosed. Arizona didn't comment. "So what are we going to do tonight" she asked.

Arizona coughed. "You, my daughter, are going home to go to do homework and then bed."

"What?"

"Yup, remember when you had the choice to do it yesterday afternoon or today?"

"That's before I knew that Mama was coming all the way here."

Callie watched the exchange, observing Arizona draw in a deep breath. "Sofia we have spoken about this. We talked about Mama coming at lunch yesterday, remember, you had a chicken wrap from the cafe."

"You didn't talk to me about it until dinner."

"Sofia," Arizona said, tone low. She rubbed her forehead and glanced sideways at Callie.

Callie intervened, the lying had started in New York and it was amazing the ease at which the words could fly out of Sofia's mouth. "The thing is Sof," Callie said, "you have two parents that both have freakishly good memories. It comes with the job - do you know how many bones I have to remember? And tendons and muscles and…" she trailed off.

Sofia just looked back at her with disdain. "Fine. Whatever. You need to follow me anyway because Mom has a new car and you won't know it. It's not as good as our old one."

Arizona shook her head and Callie tried to portray an empathetic look. She thought that Arizona looked tired and worn out, maybe lost a little weight even. She had collected Callie from the airport having clearly just showered, damp hair pulled back in a ponytail and face make up free. She had a pair of jeans and a simple v neck tee shirt on. She limped ever so slightly as she walked next to Callie.

"Why don't you tell Mama about starting baseball at school," Arizona prompted Sofia as they walked through the airport and down the escalators towards a large under cover car park.

"Yeah, everyone plays here. And parents have to come to the games and help coach and stuff. So you should do that Mama."

"Well, I'll try and get to one of your games then.'

"They're on a Wednesday afternoon, well practise is. And the game is on some Saturdays so you'll have to stay."

Callie nodded when Sofia looked up at her. She had such attitude in her voice, it was hard to look at her and not see a mini version of herself. Though she had earned the wrath of her father for every sarcastic comment or unfiltered demand. Sofia had no idea of how different her upbringing was, to both of her parents.

Sofia took the floor for most of the drive home and settled into doing her homework and then into bed easily enough given the excitement of Callie arriving. Callie savoured the opportunity to tuck her in and Sofia read her a chapter of a children's novel she was reading. She went via the guest room on her way back to the kitchen where she had left Arizona pondering wine choices in the fridge. She pulled a loose sweater over her head and was still struggling with the arms when she found Arizona dishing out two plates.

"She settle alright?" Arizona asked as Callie slid onto a stool.

"Yeah, really well. At least she likes sleep, it's always been one of her strong points."

Arizona nodded. "I can only think of some very non _good parent_ responses to that, so I think I'll just let it pass,' she said, laughing.

Callie watched her laugh, though the sound was familiar, Arizona's eyes weren't. They didn't widen with her words and her distinct laugh lines were absent. "You look tired," Callie said, though quickly regretted her words as Arizona shared a brief glance before focussing back on the plates in front of her. She smoothed her hair back and and chewed on her bottom lip. "Sorry, that wasn't meant to be…or to sound…sorry. I mean you look good, of course. You always look good; just tired. Not bad." Callie exhaled.

"I didn't sleep well last night, that's all. You know, one of those nights where you're awake ten times."

"You still don't sleep well, huh?"

Arizona shook her head. "Always very important things to think about," she said, smiling.

"Mmmm, like what Christmas will look like in eight years?"

"Exactly."

Callie laughed and she couldn't quite place what she was feeling. She watched silently for a few moments, sipping a glass of wine when Arizona slid it in front of her. Arizona's mannerisms felt so familiar but almost distant, like drawing a long forgotten or dismissed memory. The image in front of her brought back really conflictual emotions; Arizona had her hair pulled back when the affair was exposed. It made her feel sick. But her hair was the same and her face similarly frightened and nervous, when she stood in front of Callie and asked to be legally Sofia's mum. Like she didn't know how to manage the emotion but she was stuck with it all the same.

"Dinner?" Arizona asked quietly and Callie felt herself jump slightly at the intrusion. "It's just that old chicken and macadamia salad, no tomato of course."

"Yum, delicious. Thank you."

"It's no problem. Sit on the lounge?"

Callie nodded, but reached out to catch Arizona's forearm as she rounded the bench. Fingers loose over her arm, Callie hesitated. "I made this awkward," she murmured, "sorry."

Arizona nodded slowly and moved her head to indicate towards the sofa. They each carried their plate, fork and wine glass over to the coffee table. "I'm just not sure where to start or what we should talk about. I mean, we should talk about Sofia but…"

"But…there's more to it then that."

"And it's hard to figure out what to say to her when you kind of dropped something unexpected, yesterday."

"I know," Callie said.

"What were you thinking about, just before?"

Callie sighed. "Ummm, your hair oddly."

Arizona gave a sheepish look back. "I didn't have time to do it."

"I was just remembering stuff. It was a memory jog; there's a lot of memories being here with you."

"Yup, completely."

Silence settled again between them, just the slight sounds of them chewing their meal. "Arizona," Callie said eventually and blue eyes moved from her plate to meet Callie's gaze. "I don't exactly know how I feel," she said, slowly, "but I know I feel something. And I don't think that it's just nostalgia, it's something…but I'm not sure what. I've tried to figure it out over the last few months but I can't figure it out on my own in New York."

Arizona nodded. "Unfinished business," she whispered.

"Sorry?"

"April, she used this phrase last night and it struck a cord. We have _unfinished business_."

"Unfinished business."

"Yeah, but it's different for you Callie, that's me. I mean, I wasn't done, at the time. You were."

"I was," Callie confirmed nodding. "But don't think there wasn't doubts, at the time and every day after that. Some days they were small, barely there but other days they were more."

"But you're still not sure."

Callie saw the hurt before Arizona's eyes disappeared and she knew they had to be sure. There was too much risk for them not to be sure. "I know. Are you?"

"No," Arizona said calmly in response. "I'm not at all. And I'm not sure if not being done or having _unfinished business_ is good enough."

"Well, at least we're on the same page," Callie said, jostling her elbow a little into Arizona's arm and smiling.

"What do we tell our daughter?"

"We tell her nothing for the next couple of days, I think. We take the time to figure out what we're going to do and then we tell her something. I mean, I could come visit every couple of weeks and that's all she would need to know, that I was here to see her."

Arizona nodded slowly. "I guess."

"If that's what we decide of course. It's just an example."

"Well, Sofia will be in boarding school so that explanation might not work." Callie couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sudden dry humour from Arizona. She placed a hand on her stomach as she laughed, one hand reaching out to Arizona's forearm again. Arizona laughed too. "I may just start using it as a threat, so it's not that funny," she continued.

"I really have missed you, I know that for certain," Callie said after a moment.

"I tried not to miss you," Arizona said and Callie supposed it was vulnerable enough for her.

"Put your wine down,?" Callie half instructed and half asked when silence settled, and she got up to use an iPad connected to a speaker. She randomly shuffled the library and waited to adjust the volume so not to wake Sofia. "Come on, dancing around a sofa has some really really good memories for me."

Arizona laughed but shook her head. "Except I can't dance anymore!"

"Are you implying that we ever had skill? If you think that you won me over with your dance ability…" Callie trailed off, teasing.

"Hey! I just may have thought that."

Holding her hands out, Callie nodded. "Dance with me."

"Callie," Arizona insisted, although she placed her fingertips in Callie's hands and allowed her to pull her up. Callie was dancing around her almost instantaneously. "I'll just stand here and you can dance around me," Arizona added, though her hand trailed the base of Callie's spine as she moved past.

Callie laughed and on the next rotation, Arizona was moving her upper body, a familiar smile on her face. "See," Callie acknowledged, "we are totally dancing."

"Like old times," Arizona confirmed.

"Not quite," Callie responded, holding on to the bottom of Arizona's shirt as she jumped on her toes to a chorus in front of her. "But I think it's almost better."

And Callie grinned as she looked down between them, the toes of Arizona's prosthetic limb tapping rhythmically against the floor boards.

 **XXX TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

Two days later and in the midst of the morning chaos, Callie handed Arizona a cup of coffee as she yelled at Sofia to bring out her school bag and struggled to push her laptop into a leather satchel. "Ummm," Callie said and Arizona looked up, she was concerned suddenly by the serious expression on Callie's face. "I've booked my flight back to New York for tomorrow night, I have to be at work on Thursday."

Arizona felt a tightening in her throat. "Oh, of course," she said, unsure of what to add. They hadn't spoken much more since Callie's first night, just spent time with Sofia and let some of the mundane routine of school drop off and pick up and dinner take up their time. "I'll be home this afternoon, unless there's something urgent. I just have to go in for a couple of surgeries this morning."

"That would be great, I was actually wondering if I could take you out to dinner tonight. Dinner and drinks?" Callie asked.

Arizona nodded though her mind rushed to a million different places. "I'll see if the sitter is free or if Sofia can go over to Meredith's maybe."

Callie coughed. "I had coffee with Meredith yesterday and she said she would be home and Sofia loves having sleep overs still."

Blushing, Arizona nodded. "You've already organised it, that's great."

"Only if that's okay. I didn't want to be presumptuous."

"It's fine Callie, how about you drop me at work and then you can have the car for the day - drop Sof at school and then pick her up and to Meredith's. I'll grab a cab home."

"Sure, except I can pick you up. Just let me know."

Arizona shrugged, she was used to organising everything for herself these days. And, she needed to get home and shower, do some basic personal grooming before she donned any kind of restaurant attire. She was already thinking that she could sub herself out of her last surgery, let one of the more experienced residents run it with Karev as backup.

Dates always made her nervous. And this sounded like a date.

 **XXX**

Arms hooked over her crutches, Arizona re-secured the towel wrapped around herself and opened the door to her bedroom. She took a few steps and eyed Callie from across the hall before stuttering a few words. "Is there a hairdryer in your bathroom?" she asked quickly. "I'm not sure where mine is." Her cheeks flushed and she knew they would be burning red.

"Hairdryer huh? Just wanted to check what I was wearing?"

Arizona couldn't help but laugh; Callie was right. She just wanted to catch a glimpse of Callie to ascertain the tone of the night - was it more of a cocktail dress evening or something more casual. She was glad she checked though, Callie was dressed in a pair of skinny black jeans, a sheer flowing red top paired with a gold pendent that sat in the crest of her breasts. She already had a pair of low cut boots on, just a small heel. "Sometimes I forget how well you know me," Arizona responded eventually, still smiling.

"And you should know that you could come out in a pair of sweats and I would think you were as beautiful as ever," Callie answered and Arizona was envious almost of her bravery.

Again, Arizona laughed though. "I'll try to do a little better than that. I won't be needing the hairdryer, by the way."

She disappeared back into her bedroom, Callie's chuckle audible. It didn't take her long to get ready then, choosing her leg and securing it before pulling on a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. She wore knee high black boots though; she loved that the sharp pointed toes made up for the flat heel in her biased opinion. She settled quickly on a black strappy top that sat firm on her waist but loose and comfortable over her abdomen. Just loose enough that it moved subtly over her chest as she walked.

Callie was waiting for her in the kitchen when she walked out, bent over her cell phone where it lay on the bench top. She was scrolling through something on her screen. "Ready to go?" Arizona asked, announcing her arrival. She could remember their dates, from the early part of their relationship and the excitement and anticipation that she felt that night was very similar. She wasn't sure when they stopped going on dates and why that was. Perhaps all couples eventually lost some of that initial fire. Not all couples went through what they did though.

"I am," Callie answered, dropping her phone into her handbag and rounding the bench. She grinned at Arizona and stepped in, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "You look…amazing," she said softly. "And those boots…I need some of those. They are divine."

"You look stunning, Callie," Arizona said in return, dismissing Callie's comments.

"Thank you. Now, are you good? I have a cab waiting outside."

Arizona nodded and led the way out when Callie jiggled her house keys and locked the front door behind them. The cab ride was short and Callie was out of the cab first and offered a hand out. Arizona found herself looking at it for just a second longer than necessary before laying her fingers over Callie's palm and stood, stepping up on to the sidewalk.

"Have you been here before?" Callie asked, and Arizona shook her head, acutely aware that Callie's fingers stayed wrapped around hers. She made no effort to break their touch; she had always felt so comfortable with her hand in Callie's. Even after they had separated; it had always brought her calmness and comfort.

"No, but I've heard it's incredible. It apparently has a great tapas menu and a massive wine list; there was a write up recently in the newspaper. I've been wanting to try it out."

"Oh good, that's excellent. And I thought it would suit us, we were always hopeless at choosing main dishes."

Arizona laughed. "Because we wanted to try everything."

Nodding, Callie approached the restaurant entrance and discussed their reservation in Spanish. "Go on," she said to Arizona, dropping her hand and instead, placed an open palm to her hip as they followed one of the waitstaff to their table. After all of their years together, Arizona could barely speak a few words of Spanish and didn't understand much more. Another regret perhaps. "Comfortable?" Callie asked as they were seated and Arizona nodded. "I thought it would be too cool outside."

"I'm good," Arizona responded, tucking loose strands of curly hair behind her ear. She exhaled a lengthy breath and settled in to look at Callie; to really look. Sitting opposite her was the most beautiful woman she had ever known, ever dated, ever slept with. She still knew some of her idiosyncrasies and what they meant; the way that Callie was biting the end of her tongue as she perused the wine list was simply a slight anxiety. She would be wanting to choose something first that they both really liked, even though Callie would often rush to a full bodied red and not bother with a champagne or white blend which was Arizona's go to. She played with the fingers of her left hand too, flicking her nails and running her thumb over each of her fingers again and again. That had always meant she was nervous. "Have you chosen something?" Arizona asked softly.

"You were right, there are so many options. Would you be happy with champagne to start? I don't know the whites well, but do you want to look? They're more your expertise. Or we could just buy by the glass. Or different bottles? Ummm, here, you should look."

"Champs is great, Call," Arizona responded and she found herself trying to ease Callie's anxiety despite her own. "I'll even settle for a $100 bottle of Veuve rather than a $500 Bollinger."

Callie laughed and finally looked up. "Sorry, I'm actually really nervous all of a sudden."

"I can tell," Arizona said. "I like it." She earned rolled eyes in response. "I am too," she conceded.

"Occasionally over the last few months I've kind of daydreamed and tried to imagine us doing this again and I kept trying to tell myself that it wouldn't happen or it couldn't. And it mostly felt impossible."

"You could have told me, you know? Earlier than you did."

They were interrupted briefly for their wine order and Callie added in a few small starters. "Then we can order the share plates after?" she asked and Arizona nodded. "I don't know," Callie said after a few moments. "There seemed so many reasons not to. I wanted to be sure…sure 'ish' anyway and I didn't know what was going on for you. I didn't want to interrupt anything."

"There was nothing to interrupt."

"Really?"

Arizona shrugged again. "There was someone last year, for a while but it didn't work out."

"What happened? If I can ask, you don't have to answer of course."

"Do you know what _ghosted_ is?" Callie gave her a blank expression in response. "See, this is because we're old. Apparently it's something people do. They just leave, without a word. No explanation; no phone call, no note."

"People do that?"

"Yes!" Arizona said, although she laughed. "So yes, I was ghosted. I can assure you, it's not good for the self esteem. One second she was here and the next, her apartment was empty. Clearly, we were not meant to be given I didn't even know it was humanly possible to just disappear without so much as a word."

"That is actually terrible."

"I wasn't too traumatised in the end but I wouldn't recommend the whole ghosting thing. At least I learnt a knew word, I suppose." Arizona wanted to ask about Penny, but wasn't sure how or even if she should. Callie had phoned her when they broke up but it had been a brief and pointed phone call, simply to let her know that Penny had moved out and that Sofia might mention it. She could still remember Callie's sad voice on that call and how she had hung up before Arizona had much opportunity to offer anything more than a quick _sorry to hear that._

"Penny and I didn't have any big fight or falling out or anything," Callie said, appearing to read Arizona's mind. "We just drifted apart, kind of. And we both agreed to separate and that was that. It was very civilised and mature. We talked one night and the next weekend, she moved out."

"I remember you calling me to let me know, you sounded so upset."

"Oh yeah," Callie said, nodding. "My response was weird when I look back, not for being sad of course. But I wasn't particularly sad that Penny had moved out, all of my stuff was around being the common denominator. That I couldn't make something work. And then when I got my crap back together and started going out again and trying to meet people, I just kept thinking about you."

The glasses in front of them were being filled then and some small tastings of lemongrass prawn placed between them. The first of many. They ate and drank seamlessly through the evening, conversation moving from intense and personal to completely absurd and back again. They laughed; tears welled and throat lumps were swallowed as their discussion ebbed and flowed.

"Do we need to talk about what we do next?" Callie eventually asked, reaching across the table and stroking a thumb over Arizona's cheek.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but making that decision after two bottles of wine seems like a dangerous thing."

"I know, but I leave tomorrow night."

"Well then, you leave tomorrow night. That's what happens next."

"I can come back, if you want me to."

Arizona struggled with the dialogue running around her head and she knew that her eyes were glazing with tears as she contemplated how to answer. She wanted to say _yes_ , there was no question about that and she could say it more emphatically if she was being particularly honest in that unfiltered, alcohol influenced moment. But the past was such a strong influence; it created fear and uncertainty.

"You need to be really clear with me Arizona, if you don't want me to. Everything about you seems to want to be here but then all I saw when I said that, was panic."

Arizona swallowed. "I smothered you. That's what you told me; you said that I smothered you and I'm not sure how to do that differently. How do I say _yes, come back every weekend, every holiday, every chance you get_ when I'm not sure I've fixed what made you stop loving me."

Callie's lips were on hers instantaneously and Arizona knew she was kissing her back. She wasn't sure if it was instinct or want or something completely different but she did it all the same. Arizona blinked hastily as Callie sat back on her chair. "I find it hard to articulate what I was feeling and maybe I won't explain it well right now but it just seemed like all we were doing was hurting each other. All the time. And I know that I didn't understand properly but at the time I just kept feeling like you wanted me around but for the wrong reasons. At some point, I stopped feeling like your wife and more like…I'm not sure what like. But I thought that if I didn't feel like your wife then we must have been irreparable."

"If I could go back," Arizona said, "I would have done a lot of things differently. But no one can turn back time and I can't really say that given the same circumstances in the same time and same place, that I would have been different. I know that it was my fault you felt like that and I will always be so incredibly sorry."

Callie shook her head and she placed her hand over Arizona's where it rested on the table. Her other hand holding her wine glass. "I didn't mean it was your fault and I didn't mean to bring it back up again."

"No," Arizona interrupted, "we need to talk about it. We have to."

"I have such a list of things that I would do differently; things that when I think about them, I feel sick. I feel like we hung up everything about us that made us, us. And in our place we tried to be doctors; we tried to be control freaks; we tried to be functioning."

"What if that is us though, under pressure. We can't just be good together when life is smooth and carefree."

"I would have gone to Africa," Callie said, slowly and she stared intently into Arizona's gaze. The sincerity and intent felt palpable to Arizona. "I would have gone and worked beside you for however long it took and then we would have talked about what was next."

Arizona cleared her throat. "I would have said yes, to a baby, before it took a crisis for me to realise how much I wanted to share that dream with you."

"I would have hugged you more."

"What?" Arizona asked, shaking her head. "You were more affectionate than I was."

"No, well sort of. I would have hugged you more when you were sad or stressed; I thought early that you were just an army kid who was stubborn and independent. I was wrong, you just piled these walls up and instead of being kind of intimidated, I would have shown you that you didn't have to, with me."

Arizona again, slowly shook her head. She would never deny her rock solid defence mechanisms, they were well established and had been since she was such a small child. But, she had never had them named so overtly before. "I would never have thrown your phone over the back seat of our car. Before the accident."

"Arizona that's crazy. I shouldn't have taken my seat belt off; I shouldn't have been on my phone when we were going away together. You have nothing to change about that."

"I have so much I would change, Calliope. About everything."

"Hey, this was my list. I wasn't finished; I would have taken time off work after the plane crash. I would have taken months off, to sit next to you in hospital, day in and day out. I wouldn't have been in surgery when you lost consciousness; I would have been there and known before hand, and we could have talked about a change in plan."

"I would have agreed to them taking my leg in Boise. I would have told you it wasn't your fault. I would have asked you for help. I wouldn't have had an affair. I would have tried again and again, to have our baby. I,"

"Stop. Please stop."

Arizona took a deep shaky breath, aware that Callie's fingers were slowly stroking the skin of her forearm.

"Please stop," Callie said again and her eyes were staring at her when she glanced up. Everything they were saying was true but it seemed useless too. "I just wanted you to know that I own so much of how we got to be where we got to. When I said that I didn't feel like your wife; it was because I wasn't treating you like mine, either. But love, Arizona? Love was never part of the equation; love was at times the only thing I had."

"I want you to come back whenever you can and I want us to try. And it does completely fill me with panic because the end of us was one of the hardest things I've ever done. In my head, we would always be together, until we weren't."

Callie nodded and she squeezed Arizona's wrist, looking down at her hand. "I missed you."

Arizona exhaled and sadly smiled. "I missed you too."

 **XXX**

"We should go pick up Sof and do the airport run, I guess," Arizona said, walking across the lounge room from where she had just repacked a pile of Sofia's books back into the bookshelf.

Callie nodded, she sat on a stool with a cold mug of coffee next to her. "Well, I've just booked my flights for the weekend after next, so at least there's something set."

Scowling, Arizona shook her head. "I was meant to book the next flights, you don't need to pay for them all."

Callie rolled her eyes and smiled. "It's all done, you can do the next ones if it makes you feel better."

Wringing her hands, Arizona scanned the room for something else to tidy and distract herself with. "Okay," she said, moving a cushion slightly. She wasn't sure if she was feeling anxious about Callie leaving or the process of saying goodbye. She wasn't particularly surprised though when Callie interrupted her internal dialogue and made the decision for her.

"Come here and give me a hug?"

Approaching Callie, Arizona drew in a deep breath and shared a glance briefly before stepping between her legs where she sat on the stool and learnt into Callie's body. Strong arms wrapped tightly around her back and she felt Callie breathe into her neck. "We'll talk during the week?" Arizona half asked, half stated.

"Of course, any time."

"And we'll tell Sofia that you'll be visiting but we won't say anything else yet?"

"Yup, see how her behaviour goes."

"Okay," Arizona murmured, leaning back. Her gaze fell from Callie's eyes to her lips and she actively avoided thinking as she softly kissed her.

They smiled as they separated and Callie slowly nodded, pulling Arizona back into her arms.

 **TBC...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

"When is Mama coming back?"

"Next weekend Sofia, remember we told you in the car on the way to the airport?"

Sofia narrowed her eyes and used the cap on her marker to push tiny indentations in her page. "And then how long is she staying for?"

"I'm not sure honey, maybe until Tuesday or Wednesday."

"Why did you tell her to go back to New York?"

Arizona shook her head slowly. "Mama lives in New York, she has to go to work."

"She could just go to work here, if you stop telling her to leave."

"Sofia, I didn't tell Mama to leave, it's not my decision."

"That's just a lie, you say I shouldn't lie but you get to."

Holding her cutlery stationary in the air, Arizona stared at her daughter. It was exhausting weathering the unrelenting emotional swings of a child. "Tell me what I've lied about, explain that to me."

"Well, she wouldn't have left unless you asked her to. So, you must be lying."

"Oh Sofia, I wish that things were that simple, but they're just not. Mama has commitments in New York, it wouldn't matter if you want her to stay or not. Maybe one day she'll move home but right now, this is just the way it is."

Sofia audibly hymphed and Arizona assumed her explanation was akin to a simple, _because I said so._ Hardly tolerable to their spirited daughter, with all of her mama's intelligence and all of her mom's perpetuity for critical analysis.

"Well, it's Friday night, do you want to choose something for dinner?" Arizona asked, glancing over to see Sofia staring out the window, hands folded on the table.

"Mama's burrito bowl; but you can't make it."

"Sofia," Arizona stated calmly but with a stern tone, "I don't appreciate rudeness and I've tolerated enough. It's time to stop."

"Fine, I want nachos then. Even I can make them."

"Good," Arizona responded, "then you are cooking."

Sofia snapped her head around to look at Arizona, unsure if she was kidding or not. There was no smile or cheeky wink, just Arizona's eyes fixed on an article in her hand. "Sorry," Sofia mumbled, "for being rude."

Arizona nodded slowly. "I'll help with the shredded chicken then," she conceded softly. Neither of them spoke again until they were in the kitchen over twenty minutes later.

 **XXX**

"Hi Callie," Arizona said, placing her full wine glass on her bedside table and sliding on to her bed with the phone held between her ear and shoulder.

"Hey, you are there. I almost expected your voicemail."

"Oh I couldn't find my phone, I think Sofia was playing games on it before. I found it down the side of the sofa."

"How's your night been?"

Arizona sighed, only expletives came to mind. "Exhausting."

She heard Callie swallow heavily on the other end of the line; maybe she had a bottle of wine on hand as well. "Work?"

"No. Nope. Work is easy."

"Ohhhh," Callie softly answered. "Sofia?"

'Everything is such a battle."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's not your fault," Arizona said bluntly.

"Can I help? Or would you rather a quiet night on your own watching a trashy movie?"

"No, I'd rather be chatting with you, I'm just in a crappy mood. Maybe fill me in on your day?"

Callie groaned from the other end of the line. "I don't think that will cheer either of us up and I did intend on not burdening you with my work dramas but I can certainly rant if that would help."

Arizona was taken aback slightly, there were so many parts of Callie's current life that she had no idea about. "You have work dramas?"

She heard Callie scoff. "A never-ending stream of work dramas; you sure you want to hear about work on your night off?"

"Of course I do."

"Okay, well, keep note as I'm likely to ask for advice at some point. Before I'm fired hopefully." Callie laughed lightly. "Well, to start, my boss, the Chief of Surgery is a personality disordered, micro managing control freak. And that's me using my polite words."

"Ooooo," Arizona slowly articulated. "I can imagine how well you get along then."

"I'm enemy number one. And trust me, there is a long line of enemies. Her only ally is one of the general surgeons, who I think is just a game playing lunatic who loves a bit of workplace drama. Psychopath probably. Anyway, the Chief has denied every request I have ever made to do something advanced. She will only allow textbook surgeries, so we're talking major long term deficits for patients because she won't permit any surgery that she has not performed or observed herself."

"Are you kidding me? What's her specialty? She can't have performed every surgery, that is nuts!"

"Yup, I hear you. But she sits in on surgeries all day, particularly mine. I think I have done about three surgeries since I've been here that she hasn't been in on, and that was only because she had someone else in her firing line those days."

"And how many times have you snapped at her?"

Callie laughed. "Lost count, for sure. And I pay the price, not at the time of course, she's more calculated than that. But take today for example, I'm repairing a tib fib fracture, nothing major, really simple couple of screw insertions. She's standing behind me, watching, silent and I'm thinking, wow, I'm actually going to get through this without being called a name or undermined and she suddenly screams – STOP! You should have seen my reaction, and every other person in the room. The Anaesthetist jumped off his chair and my scrub nurse knocked an entire tray. I'm ready to duck, as if there's some crazed person at the door about to kill us all. But no, she just then calmly tells me to step back and that she will be closing. So, she closes the kid's leg and then thanks everyone in the room and wanders out. What the hell?"

"Oh my God, she can't do that. My anxiety levels are crazy just hearing that story."

"It was nuts, I look up and the poor, softly spoken scrub nurse is crying and apologising over and over. And then she quit. On the spot, like twenty others have just this year."

"You should too, you can't work like that. You're a legend in the OR, all your talent and skills are just being wasted. And you can't go to work everyday when that is what you get. Just resign."

"Oh I will," Callie said, though her voice lost some of it's energy. "I'm just waiting, I don't want to quit and then get another job here. I'm hoping…wanting or something, to get my old job back. Maybe, if things work out between us. But not yet, I don't want to rush or force anything just because of work."

"That makes sense," Arizona replied quietly, "and thank you; for not wanting to fast track whatever is happening with us. That's actually really, really nice. Particularly when work is so horrendous for you."

Callie made an unidentified noise, seemingly dismissive of Arizona's gratitude and compliment. "I miss you a lot, you know. It was so relaxing being back around you."

Arizona took three consecutives gulps from her wine and heard Callie chuckle softly.

"Sorry Arizona, I don't mean to put you on the spot. You don't need to say a thing, but I want to be honest and open and all of that. I know that you probably still hate the phone and long distance."

"I do," Arizona said softly. "And talking was never my strong point at the best of times."

"Well, about some things anyway. You were always great at talking about your surgery success stories, the kids you fixed when no one else could."

Swallowing heavily, Arizona shrugged to her empty room. Time was meant to bring character improvements, not make her deficits even more problematic. Was it even possible that she was less communicative than ever? She had once been so confident; so, cocky. But what about the substance; what about the things that connect people? "Did I ever?" she blurted out, a little louder than she intended. "I mean, did I ever communicate, Call? Even when we first got together?"

"Of course, Arizona. Of course you did, I'm not criticising."

"I meant it as a genuine question, I do want to know. When I was like ten or eleven, I had been friends with this kid, Jake for almost a year. When we went back to school after the summer, he asked what I had gotten up to. Did I go to summer camp or what. I said that I just hung out with my brother, we went camping and built forts and stuff. I can still see the look on his face, so confused. He didn't know I even had a brother."

"I didn't know you had a brother either, until you talked about him when I was having my meltdown about George joining the army."

"Yeah," Arizona said softly, "you never asked before."

"I never asked," Callie confirmed. "Sometimes it's hard to know what to ask I think, how do you ask about something that you don't know exists? Do you know what I mean?"

"People aren't that interested in detail though."

"Ummm…they kind of are, Arizona," Callie said, laughing. "I am. And you are, you're great at getting people to talk, asking the right questions and listening. I used to think that you lost your words sometimes, that they disappeared when it was important. That's why it used to either come out in a big rush or a crisis or not at all. But I could be wrong, that's just what I guessed."

"Hmmm," Arizona murmured, "lost words. Probably true."

"See, they're gone right?"

Arizona laughed. "Fine, you still know me extremely well."

"Tell me something…tell me something super important…"

Anxiety rumbled through Arizona's abdomen and constricted her airway; she took another gulp of her wine. "Something important? Like what? My grocery list for Sunday?"

"Ha ha, yes, grocery lists are just so important."

"You're just putting me on the spot, I can't just come up with something, it feels weird."

"Mmmm mmm."

Arizona could almost see Callie's sly smile through the phone. "Come here next week and let me lie in your arms on my bed and I'll find my awol words while I'm all secure and safe."

"Check you out, I'm very impressed, Arizona."

"Are you teasing me?"

Callie laughed. "A little, but I am impressed that I can still make you feel safe; that gives me hope."

"Always."

"I can't wait to see you again."

"Me too, me too."

 **XXX**

"Sofia Torres!" Arizona yelled just before Sofia's door was slammed closed inches from her face. The frame shuddered and the adjacent wall vibrated. Opening the door, Arizona stepped inside and promptly tripped over Sofia school bag, taking three unsteady, toppling steps before falling heavily into the closet door. Pain tore through her knee and down the side of her calf, and she took a sharp intake of air before steadying and walking towards the bed. Sofia was lying on her stomach, arms wrapped around her pillow where her face was buried. She cried heavily. "God help you if you don't sit up and look at me right now."

There was something effective in the urgency of Arizona's voice because Sofia pulled her knees up under her and raised her body, chin hanging down to her chest. Her shoulders shuddered, she had been crying for ten straight minutes in the car as Arizona fumed.

"Suspended," Arizona stated, placing a palm on Sofia's desk to take weight off her still attached but now clearly injured leg. She swallowed and shook her head to the wall. "You looked your teacher in the eye and you said _screw you_. This is after you tore your math exam in half and refused to take the test. Have I summarised this correctly?"

Sofia shrugged.

"Oh my God, Sofia. You are testing my patience; three days in elementary school. You are suspended for three damn days. For a test that you were more than prepared for, that we had practised, and you are at least two years ahead of. You better start talking."

"You're too angry," Sofia whispered from behind her hand where she chewed on her fingertips.

"You haven't even seen the start of angry," Arizona responded, somewhat unfiltered and irrationally as she forced a fist down on the desk.

She watched Sofia's shoulders curve further and her body fold in. "I want Mama."

"Well Mama isn't freakin' here. I am!"

"Please stop yelling, I didn't mean to do it!"

"You didn't mean to tear up your test or swear at your teacher? Or both? Which is it, Sofia?" Again, Sofia shrugged, inching her hand under her pillow. "We have been way too soft on you; do you have any idea what would have happened to your Mama or I if we had pulled this kind of a stunt when we were your age? If you think for a moment that this is okay and that you can make up some excuse about not meaning to do it, you are in for a big shock."

Arizona shook her head again and exhaled heavily, control wavering. The stabbing pain in her knee was agonising and Sofia was suddenly holding a phone to her ear. "I didn't mean to swear at her," she said to Arizona, her face crumbling. "I'm sorry."

"Give me the phone, Sofia."

"I just want to talk to Mama, please?" Sofia's fire was gone and a little girl remained. "Mama," she cried. "Can you come please? Please? Mom is angry at me and she's going to hit me and…"

"Hit you? I am not going to hit you Sofia, for goodness sake. Tell Mama what you have done and then give me the phone." Arizona spoke loudly, ensuring that Callie would hear her.

"I got suspended." Sofia didn't wait for a response, handing the phone out for Arizona.

Arizona's only thought was that at least she didn't throw it at her. "You will not leave this room until I come back, you hear me?" Sofia nodded and was lying back down on her bed before Arizona reached the door.

"Suspended?" Callie said, voice high and screeching through the phone.

"Hang on," Arizona muttered, limping her way across the house to her bedroom and closing the door. Callie kept muttering _suspended_ into her ear and all Arizona could focus on was getting to the side of her bed and sitting down. The second she sat down, Arizona burst into tears, covering her eyes as she sobbed into the phone.

"Arizona," Callie said softly after a minute, "It's alright."

"Except it's not is it?" Arizona muttered, wiping at her eyes and nose. She reached to her bedside for a tissue. "I walked into that school after getting their message, late of course because I was stuck in surgery and didn't even know. And they just look at me as if it explains everything."

"What the hell did she do?"

"She tore up a test, that she was more than able to do. And then apparently, when the teacher asked her what was wrong and offered her to sit it again, she crossed her arms and said _screw you_ and walked out of the school grounds. They had to run after her. When has she even heard those words anyway?"

"What? That doesn't make any sense?"

"Well, I would have asked her slightly more calmly if she hadn't gotten home and slammed the door so hard that a photo fell off the wall."

"I'm still back at her tearing up the test."

"And then the little brat left her school bag directly in her doorway so that I tripped over it and now I've torn something in my knee."

"There has to be something more to this. I mean, she's been a nightmare, I get that. But at school? No way." Arizona sighed. "And your knee, crap. I'll check it when I get there, I'm just bringing my flight forward. I'll go straight to the airport now, There's a transfer fee to pay online and then I'll have to provide my left kidney probably, knowing airlines."

"Oh wait, Callie, you don't need to do that. I sound overwhelmed and irrational, but I can do this. I can manage this."

"We can. I'm done with Sofia's behaviours, it's gone on long enough. We are going to be a united front and she is going to have the most boring three days of her young life. Are you sure the school didn't say anything else? She hadn't been having problems with the other kids or anything else?"

"Nothing, just that it was really sudden and out of the blue. They said she's been quiet, but thought that it was just her personality and from changing schools. They did say that she seems bored often and they give her some extra work to fill in time – which they probably should have talked to us about. I mean she could have gone up a grade given she changed schools anyway."

"Yuck, I used to pretend to be slower when I was her age so that I didn't get extra work and so my friends didn't think I was…uncool or whatever they say these days."

"I did my homework when I finished so that I didn't have to do it at home. Tim and I would always be outside after school, being unheard and building something that probably could have given us head injuries."

"Hmmm," Callie said, "so let's be grateful Sofia isn't like you?" She laughed and Arizona couldn't help but join in, sniffles subsiding.

"Are you really changing your flight? You were going to be here tomorrow night anyway."

"Yup, I will arrive late, about ten past eleven, your time by the look of it. I'll catch a cab to your place but shouldn't take too long, I'll just throw some carry on into a bag."

Arizona audibly sighed, she felt incredibly relieved. She suddenly hated solo parenting.

"Just give her dinner and send her to bed, maybe don't tell her that I'm coming and we can figure out what we're going to do."

"Yeah, I think that's a good plan for tonight. Besides, I may actually hit her if she talks back to me one more time."

Callie laughed. "And risk hurting those surgeon hands?"

"The school is probably already calling child protection on me, may as well give them something to investigate," Arizona added, though her voice was lighter than her words indicated.

"Breathe. Take some ibuprofen for the knee. Pour a wine. Give Sofia canned spaghetti for dinner. Turn the tv on and put some ice on your knee and I'll be there in about eight hours."

"Anything else on that list?" Arizona asked, wincing as she stretched her knee out in front of her.

"Yeah, tell our kid that I'm really disappointed in her."

"Thanks Callie."

"For co-parenting? Yeah, totally worthy of your gratitude."

"Text me when you land."

"Sure, I better run and grab a cab or I'll miss the flight. I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

Arizona dropped the phone to her side and hung her head, releasing a few more silent cries before wiping her face. She gingerly rose to her feet and limped to her adjoining bathroom, she knew she had actually done some damage to her knee, ligaments maybe or partially torn muscle from bone. As if walking wasn't challenging enough. Opening a small bottle she chased two pills with a handful of water from the faucet before washing her face. She changed slowly, replacing her blouse with a casual tee shirt which hung loose over her jeans.

It took her almost ten minutes to finally enter Sofia's room, to find her sitting on her bed against the wall, eyes wide and face tear stained. When Arizona instructed her out to shower and have an early dinner, she nodded slowly before standing timidly in front of Arizona.

Placing two fingers under her chin, Arizona pressed her lips together and sighed. "I'm angry at you, Sofia. I'm really angry. I love you, but that doesn't make this okay. You are going to go to bed tonight and when you get up tomorrow, you are going to do a few things. You are going to explain your behaviour and what the consequences should be. You are going to talk to me and we, we are going to make some big changes. This is it, Sofia. This is it."

"Okay," she whispered, and took two steps to press her face into Arizona's abdomen, little arms reaching around her back.

Arizona hugged her back, bending to press a kiss to the top of her head. "Shower time," she said after a few moments, pointing Sofia to her pyjamas, folded neatly over the back of her desk chair. "I'll have dinner ready for you when you get out and then it's bedtime. You can read until later but no technology tonight."

"Okay Mom."

"Okay, Sof."

 **XXX**

By the time Callie was knocking softly on her front door, Arizona had consumed almost a full bottle of wine and a dinner of cheese and crackers. She had gotten up only a couple of times, to check on Sofia and to place some fresh towels in the guest room for Callie. She had moved from angry to worried and ran about a million scenarios through her head as to the cause of her daughter's behaviour.

Greeting Callie with a tight hug, she felt tears fill her eyes and tried to blink them away. They would have been noticeable of course, but Callie simply smiled and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "There was no police tape outside and there seems to be no evidence of blood so…everyone is still alive?"

Arizona rolled her eyes and nodded, using the furniture to assist her walking. "Sound asleep on last check."

"Good. How are you?"

"Fine," Arizona responded automatically. "How was your flight?"

"Fine," Callie said, widely smiling when Arizona looked at her. "How are you?" she asked again.

"Sore," Arizona conceded, "and tired."

"It's late for you," Callie said, nodding. "And have you iced that?" she asked, indicating towards Arizona's leg.

"Yeah, I had some on before. It just hurts when I move it."

"This is why you're not an orthopaedic surgeon – terrible assessment."

Arizona softly laughed. "Come through? I really need to lie down put both of my legs out of their misery."

"Yeah, absolutely. I'll just throw my bag in the other room." Arizona was sitting on the side of her bed removing her prosthetic when Callie returned, noticeably still with her handbag over her shoulder. She placed it on the nightstand and crouched in front of Arizona. "You want me to check your knee?"

Arizona nodded. "Yeah, I'll just change my jeans with pyjamas for maximum miserable effect," she said, drawing a pair of pyjama pants out from under her pillow. "So the flight was really fine?"

"Yup, same as always," Callie said, standing in front of Arizona as she changed. "I did get dinner tonight which was a pleasant change, I think their window for serving meals is isolated to about an hour a day. I swear I remember getting a meal on just about every flight not that long ago. Anyway, I tried to think about what we could do about Sofia but didn't really have an epiphany. I figure that can be tomorrow's problem now."

"She knows she has some explaining to do in the morning. I think we let her talk and see where we get to."

Callie nodded, crouching in front of Arizona and pushing the leg of her pants up around her thigh. A swollen knee joint was exposed and Callie softly pressed at the stretched skin. "That is really swollen, you didn't hear any breaks or snaps?"

"Nah, not at all."

"No rubber band flicks?"

"Nope."

Holding Arizona's leg up, she slowly extended her leg, watching Arizona grimace and then pull back. "Hurts the whole way and then grabs, yeah?"

"What about behind the knee? Sore?" she asked at the same time as pressing the pads of her fingers in to the tissue.

"Ouch, yes."

"Torn ligaments at least, possibly a patella fracture. Badness, you probably need an xray and a scan. You going to need to rest it a bit, as much as you can."

Arizona rolled her eyes and shrugged. "It's not like I can be on crutches. I'm already walking weird and causing blisters."

"On this one?" Callie asked, open palm on her residual limb. Arizona nodded, only slightly flinching as Callie didn't hesitate to assess the damage. "It would be from your change in gait."

"Yup."

"Ouch," Callie added, shaking her head. "Sofia has known since she was a toddler that she can't leave things lying around."

"I don't think she deliberately did it; she wasn't exactly calm."

"Mmmm, I guess so. Do you mind if I lie on the bed with you?"

Arizona laughed and rolled her eyes. "Are we still actually guest rooming or pretending to for Sofia?"

"Well, we did say we would take it slow. Although, then again, you also said that you would lie in my arms on your bed so I'm just making sure we're on the same page."

"Please?" Arizona asked, cheekily almost as she slid around to lay back against her pillows. She patted the space beside her. Kicking off her shoes, Callie quickly slid into place on top of the covers and Arizona immediately tried to roll on to her side and into Callie's side. "Ow," she murmured, "that hurts." Sighing, she pulled some of Callie's shirt into her fist. "Such a long day."

"Want to talk?"

"Can we save that for tomorrow night?"

"Of course. Want to just lie here and cry?"

Arizona tilted her head up and found Callie's eyes on her, looking ever so gentle, unassuming and full of careful attention. "Yup."

"Okay," Callie whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She traced small patterns on Arizona's arm and back and, only a few tears fell before she drifted to sleep. When she woke the next morning, she was somehow under the blankets and Callie was sound asleep next to her. The sun was up, and Arizona hadn't woken once during the night. She couldn't remember the last time that had happened, well she could, and it was one of the last times that Callie had ever shared her bed.

 **XXX**

TBC…


	5. Chapter 5

Sitting at the dining room table, Callie sipped at a hot cup of coffee. It was too hot to drink quickly, so she wet her lips and slurped more than actually drank the liquid. She had sent Arizona in to the bathroom to shower and Callie had quickly dressed to wait for Sofia to emerge from her room. When she did pad out, Sofia had pyjamas slightly askew and wild hair matted and tucked roughly behind her ears. She blinked at the sight of Callie in her kitchen and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Mama?" she half stated and half asked.

"Ah Sofia, you've risen. My little trouble maker and cause of my middle of the night flight across the country."

Sofia rolled on to the sides of her feet and shrugged. "Ummmm," she offered.

"Hmmmm," Callie replied. "Seems about right."

"Where's Mom?"

"Showering I think."

"Okay."

"You want some breakfast? Granola?"

"Ummm, I don't know," Sofia answered, sliding into the seat furthest away from Callie.

Callie sighed, timid or uncertain was seldom something her daughter was. "I just asked if you want some granola Sofia, not what your views are on humanitarian aid." Sofia just stared back at her, as if Callie was going to self-combust at any given moment. "Come on honey, you're going to have to work with us here. You've messed up, big time and have a heap of explaining to do, but being all sullen is not going to do you any favours."

"I can get my cereal, you don't need to," Sofia said. "And how come you're here, Mama?"

 _Because you're slowly taking away our will to live_ , didn't seem like the most appropriate response but it was the first thing that ran through Callie's mind. Along with a few expletives thrown in. "When my kid gets suspended, I kind of need to come and help, Sofia. Why do you think I'm here?"

"Are you going to stay?"

"For a few days, yeah. I'm not sure yet."

"Is Mom still furious?"

"She's disappointed, rather than angry. We both are."

Sofia scoffed rudely. "She was angry, I've never seen her so angry."

Callie nodded. "Your mom doesn't really get angry, not outwardly anyway."

"She did," Sofia said, pouring some milk in to her bowl. She walked back and sat down at the table, across from Callie this time. "Am I going back to live with you? Is that why you're here? Mom doesn't want me here anymore."

Callie was slightly taken aback, concerned really, that Sofia could even think that either of them would just send her away because they didn't _want_ her. "What makes you think that?"

Again, Sofia shrugged. "Seriously Mama, she's really angry. There's no way she'll want to keep me here."

"Of course she will, that's not how parenting works. We don't get to pick and choose, Sofia. Remember, you chose to come back here – it wasn't my choice and if you want to come back to New York, that will be your choice too, not mine or Mom's. But you also can't just go back and forth all the time, you need to stay and settle in school and with your friends."

"I don't want to go back to New York," Sofia said, eyes focussed on her cereal.

"Well, your behaviour isn't really saying that so I have to admit, I'm pretty confused by it all. Mom certainly tells me that this whole suspension thing is just the next drama, that you've been trouble with a capital _T._ "

"Yeah, I guess."

"You want to talk to me sprocket?"

"I just have some questions, that's all."

"Like what?"

"Well, my Dad died, right? After the plane crash that Mom was in too?"

Callie nodded, drawing in a quick breath. "Yup, that's right. Your dad's name was Mark, remember? I thought I used to talk about him all the time and your mom has a photo up over there too."

"Yeah, but I mean, he's my dad and you're my real mom…"

"Real mom? I don't understand what that means, Sof? You have two moms, that's just how our family is."

"But Brax, you know Brax? From school in New York?"

"Yeah, I think so, vaguely."

"Well he said that he had two moms, and he didn't really have a dad, only a donor dad. Like, he doesn't know him and his moms don't know him. He doesn't have a photo or anything, but I have heaps of photos of me and Dad when I was a baby."

"Well, all families are really different, some families have only one mom and no one else or two dads. You know this stuff but."

"Well, Mom was there when I was born, but you and Dad had me like, for real. So, I had a Dad and you and who was Mom, then?"

Callie took a gulp of her coffee, she needed more caffeine for this conversation and had absolutely no idea how to run this one. The liquid burned her throat slightly. "Well, that's a bit complicated actually but Mom is and has always been, your other mom."

"My step mom?"

"No, your mom."

"But isn't that how it works? If someone has a baby with someone and then they meet someone knew, then they are a step parent?"

"Well yes, sort of. Maybe, it depends." Callie stumbled over her words and her mind reeled, _where the hell is Arizona?"_

"Your mom and I fell in love before that though." _Abort…Abort…._

"So you were in love with Mom and Dad?"

"No. Only Mom."

"So, you didn't love Dad?"

"I did, yes. You were totally a product of love." _And lust and devastation and confusion and loss and oh dear God, where is Arizona?_

"Sounds like you're just making stuff up, Mama."

"Oh I'm not honey, it's just adult relationships are complex and confusing sometimes. But I do know that Mark loved you, Arizona loves you and I love you. You were and are, the luckiest kid in the world to have more love than anyone else I know."

"But you and Mom didn't make a decision to actually have me. I don't have a donor dad, I have like a real one."

"Sofia, we don't really use the words 'real' parents in this house. It's just some crap term that people use to try and pretend that kids only have one mom and one dad and that's not something that we believe in. It's against our values and everything that we know about the world. I have to be honest kid, I don't really understand what you're trying to ask, can you be really clear with me?"

"Nothing, I'm just trying to get what this screwed up family is. I mean, what do you expect me to tell people?"

"Sofia!"

"Sorry," Sofia mumbled under her breath.

"Sounds like a fun conversation happening out here," Arizona said, limping into the room, wet hair draped over her shoulders and to the middle of her shoulder blades. "Good morning Sofia; good morning Callie."

"Hi," Sofia whispered, eyes fixated back on her cereal.

"Oh, good morning Mom. How much did you hear?"

"Enough," Arizona said simply, heading in to the kitchen and pouring herself a coffee. "Can I help with anything?"

"Well," Callie began, having no idea of how to choose her words. "Sofia is trying to understand our family, how you and I and Mark all fit in."

"Yeah, I mean, I think I heard that. We're a hard family to explain."

Sofia looked up briefly, opened her mouth as if to say something and shut it again. Her eyes stared at Arizona for just a moment, unblinking; just as suddenly they were gone again, back on her breakfast.

"Is there something else?" Arizona asked before looking to Callie.

"It's better to ask Sof, there's no use just thinking these things," Callie said, though all she could focus on was the sadness in Arizona's expression.

"I don't know," Sofia said, as if it was the core of her vocabulary. Callie hated it, the _I don't knows_ , it just reminded her of annoying people, with no convictions and no confidence. And now their daughter was an _I don't know_ kind of kid. "I just think that you haven't told me the whole story. I mean, I'm Mama and Dad's kid, and then you're like a…I don't know, something."

Callie felt desperately torn, the love she felt for her daughter and the obvious torment in her little developing mind. And then there was Arizona, who she knew would become stone faced and understanding, hurt running deep inside of her. "That _something_ that you are referring to, is your mom. She's the one who held my hair back when I dry retched in the toilet; she picked out onesies and chose the most amazing feeding chair for us. She saved your life, before you were even meant to have seen the outside world. My God Sof, I know that it doesn't make sense to you but…"

"But what?" Sofia interrupted, "really, but what?"

"You know what Sofia," Arizona said sadly, sitting down next to Callie. "When your mama wanted to move to New York, I could have just shrugged and let you go with her. I could have seen you occasionally, holidays and weekends once or twice a year, and that probably would have drifted out when you got older and didn't want to come here at all. Actually, your mama and I weren't even talking, so I really didn't want to see her at the time. But you, I couldn't even imagine my life without you. I wanted you so much that I went to court and a really important Judge said that I, that I should have you live permanently with me here in Seattle."

"What do you mean? I don't get it, I went to New York. You just let me go to New York with Mama, I wanted to stay here with you and Mama. I didn't want any of us to move."

"I didn't let you go, Sof," Arizona said softly. "I fought a really silly fight with your mama, so silly and so awful but it was all for you. And I was allowed to keep you here."

"Why didn't you?"

Callie reached under the table and squeezed Arizona's hand before dropping it. "Because," Calie said, "Mom is a much better person than me. She saw how much it hurt me to not have you with me; she saw how much I needed and wanted you in New York and she wanted me to be happy."

"If it was just about my happiness, then you would have stayed right here in Seattle," Arizona confirmed.

"Just me?" Sofia asked, softly.

"Well, mostly you. But Mama too."

"That would have been better," Sofia said, spoon clinking against the milk remnants in her bowl.

Arizona nodded. "For me, absolutely. But maybe not for you and Mama. But Sof, I'm still confused. Is this an issue at school? Is this why you've been acting out?"

Shrugging, Sofia's eyes filled with tears. "Yes….but then no. I don't know what to say when people ask me about my family. I don't even know, so how can I explain it? I have a Dad but he died and then two moms but one lives in New York and one here – and it was just the opposite when I was in New York. It sucks. I hate it. I want a normal family, I just want to be normal."

"Are you being teased for having two moms?" Callie interrupted, eyes wide and palms flat on the table.

"No, they just ask and laugh when I can't even answer, Mama. I say that I have two moms and I had a dad too, but not anymore, but they just laugh and laugh at me. Like I'm some dumb kid who doesn't even know where babies come from."

"Sof…" Arizona said softly.

"No, I don't understand properly. Mama and Dad had me, like they had sex and had me. Where were you?"

"I was working in Africa."

"What? Why?"

"Because…I was silly. I made a silly choice and I left Mama here on her own in Seattle."

"And then you came home?"

"Yes."

"For me?"

"For Mama first and then for you. I know it doesn't count for too much, but I chose you, Sofia Torres. I chose to have you as my daughter. I loved you from the second I saw you on an ultrasound machine, the kind of love that people don't get much in life. The kind of love I've only felt twice in my entire life. Three times if I include your mama." Arizona looked sideways and Callie felt her heart rate increase. "I'm not ever going to pretend to not be your mom; I'm not going to tell you that you were just Dad and Mama's; I can't do that. You were always my daughter and you still are. I can't and I won't ever give that up, do you hear me? So you tell those little burgers at school that your family is awesome, that you have two moms that think you're the best thing that ever happened to them and that you had a dad that called you his princess, every single day."

"He did?"

He did," Callie affirmed.

"Who was the other time?"

"My other instant love?" Arizona clarified and Callie looked between them confused.

"Yeah, you said there was me and Mama and another time?"

"Yup," Arizona said calmly, "we tried to have another baby, after you; your mama and I. But it didn't work out, we couldn't but I saw the baby once, on an ultrasound machine. And I loved that baby with the same amazing feeling that I had for you. Only I loved you more, because I got to see you and hold you and raise you. Well, my love just grew for you but not for your brother or sister, because they didn't live long enough for us to do that."

"Who? I mean, who's belly was the baby in?"

Arizona swallowed. "Mine, Sof."

"Oh."

"Yup," Arizona glanced at Callie and there were tears in her eyes. The stoic Arizona she had once become so frustrated with was suddenly emotional and engaged.

"I would like a sister or a brother," Sofia said, effortlessly.

Arizona laughed and Callie quickly joined in. "I think we're almost getting too old, Sof."

"Nah, you're not too old."

Callie continued to laugh, it seemed to simple to Sofia. Her Moms should be together and they should just have another baby, because life worked like that. Arizona had risen from her chair and was in the kitchen, filling up her coffee which she had barely touched. "I'm laughing Sofia, but you still have some explaining to do about this whole suspension gig."

"I am sorry," Sofia responded after a few moments, shaking her head. "I know I did the wrong thing, but I just had a bad day. And I felt bad…I lied. To the other kids and to my teacher, I said that I was adopted." She looked down at her lap, face turning a shade of red. "And then they kept asking me questions and then it was the exam and I just wanted to go. I wanted to come home."

"Sofia," Arizona whispered from across the room.

"I'm sorry; I'm really really sorry. I messed up."

"Honey," Callie said, standing up to walk around the table. She knelt in front of Sofia and cupped her face. "You have, two people who love you more than anything in the world."

"I know that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Is there anything else that we need to know?"

Sofia chewed on her cheek and Arizona slowly approached Sofia as well, trailing her fingers across Callie's back before dipping her head to press a kiss to Sofia's head. "I just wish you would move home, Mama."

"Yeah, well, you're going to need to be patient on that one, sprocket."

"Is it a maybe then?"

Arizona shared a glance with Callie, and nodded. "That's a maybe," Callie confirmed.

 **XXX**

"Callie?" Arizona asked, walking into the guest room after spending half an hour reading with Sofia in bed before turning her light off.

"Mmmm?" Callie asked, sitting on the bed and resting back against the headboard, phone in her hand.

"You did amazing getting Sofia to talk. Really, thank you. She was just telling me how much she misses you and she told me calmly and coherently. And without swearing." Arizona laughed lightly.

"I think she was ready."

"I think you helped; a lot."

"Let's all hope that it equals a change in behaviour."

Arizona smiled. "Well, she's certainly done her quota of school work today, poor kid. I'm looking forward to this project presentation in two days."

"Great topic, by the way. A research project on different types of families; subtle as a sledgehammer."

"Just reinforcing our discussion!"

They laughed before silence settled between them. "Thanks for sharing that stuff with her today, I think it helped. About our other baby."

Arizona shrugged and sat herself down on the end of the bed. She rubbed at her knee. "She has a right to know about us and the family we had or tried to have before we separated. The poor thing is just trying to fill in gaps and to fit in with her peers."

"Did we do a crap job? Have we not prepared her for how cruel people can be?"

"I don't know, I think we've tried. She's such a little thinker and who knows what people have asked or said. And we've had a lot of change in her pretty short life."

"I don't think it even occurred to me that it would be an issue, I mean, isn't this the next generation? These kids were meant to have it much easier than us."

Callie shrugged, she didn't really have the experience of growing up and questioning her sexuality like Arizona did. She wasn't a teenager attracted to girls; in fact, she was the opposite when she was a young person. She was quite promiscuous with adolescent boys, in retrospect. "I think it's just the combination of everything, she really wants the concept of her family being together, now that she's a bit older.

"One big happy family."

"Doesn't sound so bad, does it?"

Arizona smiled. "Sounds amazing actually."

"You're the only person I've ever had that with," Callie responded quietly.

"Yeah, me too. And Callie, I would jump back in but what if we get it wrong? What if this isn't what we expect it to be or it just goes back to the mess we always had?"

"Ah," Callie said, laughing, "what if it doesn't?" She knew she was teasing, but she wanted Arizona to at least see some of the positives rather than what could go wrong; what did go wrong. It used to be the other way around with Arizona full of rainbows and pretty pink bubbles. Callie hated that she had lost that; that they had lost that for her.

"The universe has a habit of screwing things up for us, whenever we get super happy and hopeful."

Callie tipped her head and analysed Arizona's expression. "We could try again, for another baby. If you wanted to," she said softly, taking a gamble really on Arizona's fears. Arizona's eyes filled with tears and Callie immediately regretted her question. Leaning forward, she trailed the pads of her fingers across Arizona's jawline. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you."

"I would like to, I know that."

"But?"

"I don't know. I just see that freakin' ultrasound machine with its ten-week old foetus instead of twelve weeks and waiting for the inevitable _there's no heartbeat_ conversation."

"It was all bad."

"I never used to be scared of anything, you know? And slowly it's crept in and I despise it. I want to be fearless again, I want to book a trip to Spain and whisk you off your feet; I want to tell Sofia that I am madly in love with you and that we are going to be a family again. I want to tell her that we'll try and give her a sibling, a brother or sister to protect and look after. I want you to move back here, and straight into this house."

Callie tugged at Arizona's arms, awkwardly pulling her from her seated position to lie against her. Arizona visibly winced at the effort, but her body was heavy and arms tight around Callie's abdomen when she managed to manoeuvre herself into position. "I think we should do it," Callie said quietly and she felt Arizona's open palm press against her side. "Maybe not Spain, just yet," she added, laughing, "and the baby; but the moving here. I want that as soon as we can; I want us back and I don't think we have any idea if it'll work out but I do know, that we don't have a chance of figuring it out if I stay in New York for the next five years."

"You're ready to move back?"

"If you are ready for me to."

"What about work?"

Callie groaned. "I'll go and see if I can have my old job back."

"I'm ready," Arizona said and she smiled up at Callie with tiny laugh lines creased around her eyes.

"Well then, maybe that Spain trip isn't such a bad idea after all?"

"Hmmm, you may be forgetting that little train wreck daughter of ours sleeping in her room," Arizona prompted.

"Oh, that's right. Do you think it's bad form to fly our kid coach when we're up in first?"

Arizona laughed loudly, shaking her head. Using her elbow as leverage, she kissed Callie. A deep, lingering kiss.

 **TBC**


End file.
